1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of protective wheel rim masks used to shield or protect a wheel rim when applying a liquid dressing to a tire. More particularly, the present invention relates to adjustable protective wheel rim masks that can be size customized in order to protect wheels of varying diameter.
2. The Relevant Technology
It is become common practice during detailing of cars, trucks, and other vehicles to beautify the tires by applying a liquid dressing thereto in order to clean, darken and shine the tires, thereby giving the tires a newer, more classy, appearance. In addition to enhancing the appearance of the tires and overall vehicle, the tire dressing can also protect and prolong the life of the tires.
A typical tire dressing comprises a water-in-oil emulsion having a milky appearance and including a special oil-based protectant. One such tire dressing is sold under the trademark ARMORALL(copyright), a trademark of the McKesson Corporation, located in Irvine, Calif.
A popular method for applying tire dressings in liquid form is from a spray bottle. While this application method is efficient in placing a desired quantity of the tire dressing over a broad area in a short period of time, it nevertheless can create a problem of overspray. That is, spraying of the tire often inadvertently results in spraying of the metal wheel rim, thus leaving an undesired oily residue on the tire rim. Because the tire dressing is generally brake dust and road grime, all of which quickly make the wheel rim unsightly. Moreover, the oily tire dressing often becomes gummy and difficult to remove, thus requiring the use of strong detergents and vigorous scrubbing. This, ironically, usually has the effect of stripping off the tire dressing from the tire, thus undermining the whole purpose for applying the tire dressing in the first place.
In order to provide the user with the ability to mask or protect the wheel rim during the application of a tire dressing, several wheel rim covers have been proposed. Wheel rim covers such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,972 to Cailor et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,991 to Marino et al. are hand-held devices that can be held in place over the wheel rim with one hand while the user applies tire dressing to the tire with the other. U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,206 to Sampson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,599 to Sherod et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,670 to Koller disclose wheel rim covers that include attachment means so that such protective covers can be secured to the wheel rim to free up both hands of the user.
Whereas any of the foregoing wheel rim covers may provide adequate protection from tire dressing being applied to the wheel rim, such protective covers are not readily adjustable to fit a plurality of differently sized wheel rims. Whereas U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,524,972, 4,955,670 and 4,874,206 purport to disclose xe2x80x9cadjustablexe2x80x9d wheel rim covers, the so-called xe2x80x9cadjustabilityxe2x80x9d of such wheel rim covers is provided by the requirement that the user cut away a predetermined portion of the outer circumference in order for the wheel cover to xe2x80x9cadjustxe2x80x9d to, and thereby fit, a particular wheel rim size. Unfortunately, such xe2x80x9cadjustmentxe2x80x9d is one way. Once xe2x80x9cadjustedxe2x80x9d to fit a smaller wheel rim, such wheel rim covers cannot later be xe2x80x9cre-adjustedxe2x80x9d so as to fit larger wheel rims. Thus, a person will not be able to repeatedly use such wheel rim covers for differently-sized wheels, thus realistically requiring a person to purchase multiple wheel rim covers, one for each size wheel, if the person owns multiple cars having differing wheel rim sizes. Moreover, trimming away a portion of the wheel rim cover can be tedious, inexact, and result in the formation of sharp or jagged edges.
In order to provide universal xe2x80x9cadjustabilityxe2x80x9d, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,389 to Bradford discloses a hand held wheel cover that essentially comprises a pie-shaped wedge portion attached to a handle. In use, the Bradford cover is rotated around the edge of the tire rim in order to provide localized protection from tire dressing overspray. However, protecting the rim using the device of Bradford appears to be both cumbersome and inexact, since the user is required to move the pie-shaped wedge portion around the entire 360xc2x0 of the wheel rim. Thus, whatever convenience is provided by the xe2x80x9cadjustabilityxe2x80x9d feature of the Bradford device is offset by the necessity to rotate the Bradford device between each squirt of tire dressing. Thus, the Bradford device does not allow for a single masking step followed by spraying tire dressing on the entire tire, but requires a step-wise application.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an improved wheel rim protective mask that could be adjusted to protect a plurality of differently-sized wheel rims.
It would be an additional improvement in the art to provide wheel rim protective masks that could be adjusted both upwardly and downwardly in order to provide protection for both larger and smaller rims once the protective mask has been sized to fit an intermediate-sized rim.
It would be a further improvement in the art to provide a wheel rim protective mask that could be readily and repeatedly adjusted to fit a variety of differently-sized wheel rims with a minimum of effort.
Finally, it would be a tremendous improvement in the art to provide a wheel rim protective mask that provided for ease of adjustment but which was capable of covering and masking the entire wheel rim at the same time, and in a single placement step, prior to applying tire dressing to the entire tire.
Such adjustable wheel rim protective covers are disclosed in claims herein.
The present invention relates to adjustable wheel rim masks for protecting a wheel rim during the application of a tire dressing to the surrounding tire. More particularly, the present invention encompasses size-adjustable wheel rim masks that can be adjusted to fit a variety of differently-sized wheel rims with a minimum of effort. Once adjusted to an intermediate wheel rim size, the size adjustable wheel rim masks of the present invention are upwardly and downwardly adjustable to cover larger and smaller wheel rims, respectively.
In order to provide the aforementioned adjustability feature, the wheel rim masks of the present invention preferably comprise a generally circular disk or disk-like sheet made of a sufficiently durable and chemical resistant material so as to provide adequate protection of a wheel rim when a tire dressing is applied to the surrounding tire. The circular disk includes a radial gap, such as a slit, extending from at or near the center point to the outer circumferential edge in order to allow the two adjoining sides of the disk to overlap each other in order to form the disk into a cone or cone-shaped configuration. This has the effect of reducing the effective circumference and diameter of the resulting cone-shaped configuration compared to an original flat configuration. Depending on how far one side of the disk is overlapped over the other, the circumference and diameter of the resulting cone can vary as desired in order to match or correspond to the circumference of a particular wheel rim to be masked.
In order to lock the cone-shaped wheel mask in a desired configuration so as to have a desired circumference and diameter, an adjustment locking means is provided. In a preferred embodiment, the locking means comprises a series of snaps on one side of the radial gap that can mechanically interact with one or more corresponding snaps on the other side of the radial gap so as to xe2x80x9csnapxe2x80x9d, and thereby lock, the cone in a particular configuration. For example, a series of male snaps may advantageously be spaced apart at a predetermined location near the outer circumferential edge of the disk-shaped structure on one side of the radial gap. On the other side of the radial gap a corresponding female snap may be oriented so as to enable the overlapping side of the disk to be locked in place relative to one of the spaced-apart male snaps.
The male snaps are preferably oriented so that selective engagement of the female snap with each of the male snaps yields a series of cone-shaped wheel rim mask configurations corresponding to known wheel rim sizes commonly used on cars, trucks or other vehicles. For example, the female snap might be caused to engage the first male snap closest to the radial gap so as to yield a wheel rim mask configuration corresponding to a 17 inch diameter wheel rim. Likewise, engaging the female snap with the second male snap may advantageously correspond to at 16 inch wheel rim, and so on. Because wheel rims can range anywhere from 13 to 21 inches in diameter for most vehicles, the adjustable wheel rim masks of the present invention may be configured so as to correspond to any or all of the available wheel rim sizes. In most cases, it will be preferable for the wheel rim masks of the present invention to be adjustable to cover at least the most conmmonly sized wheel rims, such as 14 inch, 15 inch, 16 inch and 17 inch wheel rims.
It should be appreciated that the adjustment locking means is not limited to the use of snaps, but may include any known attachment or fastening device known in the art. For example, a tab and recess arrangement can be used to lock the disk-shaped blank into a desired cone-shaped configuration. Due to the generally resilient and spring-like nature of the disk material, once formed into a desired configuration, the disk will tend to flex outwardly in order to urge and maintain the tab and recess in an interlocked orientation. This, in turn, maintains the cone-shaped wheel mask in a desired configuration. As with snaps, a series of holes or recesses can be provided in a spaced apart orientation so that, when interlocked with the tab, the disk will form a cone having a size corresponding to a desired wheel rim size. Alternatively, a series of tabs in a desired spaced-apart orientation may be provided, with a locking hole or recess corresponding thereto.
In another alternative embodiment, a hook and loop locking system (e.g. VELCRO(copyright)) can be used. In a xe2x80x9chook and loopxe2x80x9d locking system, a patch of closely spaced xe2x80x9chooksxe2x80x9d is provided on one surface of the disk on one side of the radial gap, and a corresponding patch of wool-like xe2x80x9cloopsxe2x80x9d is provided on the opposite surface of the disk on the other side of the radial gap. Once the two sides of the disk are caused to overlap so as to form a cone structure, the two sides can be locked into a desired orientation by engaging at least a portion of the hook patch with at least a portion of the loop patch. In contrast to the use of snaps or a tab and recess system, a hook and loop system allows for micro-adjustability of the cone to virtually any size within the range of possible sizes. On the other hand, snaps allow for predetermined cone adjustments in order to provide an exact size each time.
Alternatively, the adjustment locking means may comprise adhesive tape, a belt and buckle arrangement, a ratchet band and clasp arrangement, and the like. In fact, the present invention contemplates the use of virtually any adjustment locking means so long as it is capable of forming a wheel rim mask having a desired size, shape and configuration so as to provide the desired masking of a wheel rim.
In order to provide the user with the ability to grip the wheel rim mask, gripping means are provided, such as a pair of holes through which the user can insert his or her fingers therethrough. Alternatively, a handle or other grip device known in the art may be provided.
Although, it will be preferable in most cases for the circumference of the wheel rim mask to correspond as closely as possible to the circumference of the wheel rim to be masked, it is certainly within the scope of the invention to provide a wheel rim mask that either overlaps or falls short of the wheel rim circumference as desired. Thus, to say that a wheel rim mask is adjusted so as to xe2x80x9ccorrespondxe2x80x9d to a particular size of wheel rim should be understood to mean that the wheel mask can be adjusted to cover any portion of a wheel rim that the user deems to be desirable. Moreover, the term xe2x80x9ccone-shapedxe2x80x9d should not be limited to structures that are precisely xe2x80x9cconesxe2x80x9d in the geometrically rigorous sense, but shall include other cone-like structures or derivatives of cones as well, including but not limited to, frustro-conical structures, warped cones, bell-shaped structures, structures having a parabolic cross-section, and the like. Nevertheless, wheel masks that more closely approximate true cones shall be understood to be the preferred xe2x80x9ccone-shapedxe2x80x9d mask structures according to the invention.
In a preferred embodiment, the wheel rim mask will comprise a solvent-resistant plastic or polymeric material that is capable of being sprayed numerous times with tire dressing without disintegrating or becoming dimensionally unstable. Nevertheless, it is certainly within the scope of the invention to provide a wheel rim mask of virtually any material so long as it is capable of being adjusted to differently sized wheel rims. For example, the wheel rim mask may comprise a single or laminated material comprising virtually any sheet or sheet-like material, such as plastic, paper, paperboard, metal, fabric, and the like.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved wheel rim protective mask that can be adjusted to protect a plurality of differently-sized wheel rims.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide wheel rim protective masks that can be adjusted both upwardly and downwardly in order to provide protection for both larger and smaller rims once the protective mask has been sized to fit an intermediate-sized rim.
It is a further object and feature of the invention to provide a wheel rim protective mask that can be readily and repeatedly adjusted to fit a variety of differently-sized wheel rims with a minimum of effort.
Finally, it is an important object of the invention to provide a wheel rim protective mask that provides for ease of adjustment but which is capable of masking the entire wheel rim at the same time, and in a single placement step prior to applying tire dressing to the entire wheel.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.